As a child I lived to perform. From writing and staging plays in primary school, to local and regional theatre groups, weekly acting classes and one-to-one acting coaching until I was eighteen, it was in my blood. 

Life led me down a different path. During my twenties and early thirties I travelled, lived and worked in over thirty countries around the world. I learnt to speak several languages fluently. I worked with a global consultancy corporation. I spent time with the U.N working in some of the world’s least developed countries – Niger, Ethiopia, Bihar State and Nagapattiman in the aftermath of the Tsumami, to name but a few. I worked with the World Economic Forum in China, Geneva and Davos. I also spent a lot of time in the UK’s underground house and techno scene running club nights and promoting for one of the world’s most talented and successful DJs and music producers.  I met my husband.  I had two children. But I was lost and adrift.  And that passion for acting was still there. It was a voice that wasn’t going away. It was time to listen.

It’s 2013.  I am inspired to action by a production of Harold Pinter’s Old Times at The Pinter Theatre. Which I watched twice. My husband bought me a birthday present – an Acting for Absolute Beginners course.  From there, I signed up for the Total Actors Toolbox at the City Literary Institute, which led to a Foundation Year, which led to an Access to HE in Drama. I joined the City Lit rep company and performed in countless plays. RCSSD then opened its doors to me for the year-long Acting Diploma. In 2018, I was accepted into RADA. Since graduating in 2019, I’ve worked pretty much full time as an actor on a range of stage, screen, radio and Voice Over projects. I’ve got several exciting opportunities lined up for the rest of 2024 and into 2025. 

Throughout this journey, many people told me I was crazy and some have openly laughed at me. One Drama School informed me that ‘I was clearly “creative” and needed an “outlet” for that, but I should think very carefully about what I was doing because it will be impossible’ (they rejected me – no matter, I was accepted into RADA two months later!).  The Artistic Director of one theatre told me that without three years full-time drama school training, he wouldn’t even consider my CV.  I chose to ignore them all.

Instead, I chose to listen to the people who were with me.  To the wonderful person that said to me in 2014 – as I sat heavily pregnant with my third child in my end-of-year tutorial – ‘If anyone can do it Emma, you can’. I chose to listen to and work with the many people that have given me so many opportunities to grow. I am deeply grateful to each and every one of them. Ultimately, I chose to listen to the voice within me to follow my dream. My husband, my children, my family and my closest friends have all been unwavering in their support. I have an awful lot to thank them all for. 

I’m half Roma. I’m first generation off a travelling fairground site.  I take my stage name in part from my Grandmother – Lavinia May Wright.  She took her family off the site when my mother was 7 years old. Again, I have a lot to thank her for. She, above and beyond anybody else, has taught me that if you really want to change your life you can.

Image: My Grandmother Lavinia May Wright (far left), outside her Caravan, with friends.  

“And if they say that all your dreams are too big to come true, you tell them that I told you

“that’s what dreams are meant to do’’ (Dallas Clayton, An Awesome Book).